Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Joyce Brothers, a former academic psychologist who, long before Drs. Ruth, Phil and Laura, was counseling millions over the airwaves, died on Monday at her home in Fort Lee, N.J. She was 85.

Her daughter, Lisa Brothers Arbisser, confirmed the death.

Dr. Joyce Brothers, as she was always known professionally — a full-name hallmark of the more formal times in which she began her career — was widely described as the mother of mass-media psychology because of the firm, pragmatic and homiletic guidance she administered for decades via radio and television.

She was the host of her own nationally syndicated TV shows, starting in the late 1950s with “The Dr. Joyce Brothers Show” and over the years including “Ask Dr. Brothers,” “Consult Dr. Brothers” and “Living Easy With Dr. Joyce Brothers.”

On 'Girl Talk'

with Virginia Graham, Inger Stevens, Abbe Lane

She was also a ubiquitous guest on talk shows like “The Tonight Show” and on variety shows like “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”

She was a panelist on many game shows, including “What’s My Line?” and “The Hollywood Squares.” These appearances had a fitting symmetry: It was as a game-show contestant that Dr. Brothers had received her first television exposure.

Playing herself, or a character very much like herself, she had guest roles on a blizzard of TV series, from “The Jack Benny Program” to “Happy Days,” “Taxi,” “Baywatch,” “Entourage” and “The Simpsons.”

O'BSERVATIONS:

In June of 2000, Dr. Joyce Brothers was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame (League of Themselves wing.) She could very well be the Queen of the League of Themselves!

She was all over the TV Universe:

On 'One Life To Live'

Earth Prime-Time

The Tooniverse

The Borderlands

Skitlandia

The Cineverse*

Here is just a partial tally of the TV shows in which she played the televersion of herself:

EntourageOh, Mandy (2005)

The MulletsGrudge Match (2003)

The Steve Harvey ShowHerself– Analyze Dis (2000)

V.I.P.

Miss Con-Jeannie-Ality (2000)

Ally McBeal

Those Lips, That Hand

Kenan & Kel

Freezer Burned (1999)

Suddenly Susan

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Susan's Party

Pinky and the Brain

The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special (1998)

Style & Substance

Chelsea Gets an Opinion (1998)

Diagnosis Murder

Must Kill TV (1997)

Police Academy: The Series

Put Down That Nose (1997)

The Nanny

The Ex-Niles (1997)

That's Midlife (1996)

Hope & Gloria

One Sorry Mother (1996)

Sisters

Renaissance Woman (1995)

Melrose Place

Amanda Unplugged (1995)

Dial M for Melrose (1995)

Let the Games Begin (1995)

New York Daze

The Candidate

Grace Under Fire

Mother & Son & Father Reunion (1995)

Come Die with Me: A Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Mystery (1994)

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Self Help (1994)

Frasier

Selling Out (1993)

The Simpsons

Last Exit to Springfield (1993)

Dream On

Come and Knock on Our Door... (1992)

Dame Edna's Hollywood

Episode #1.2 (1992

Scorch

Scorch Likes It Hot (1992)

Night Court

Attachments Included (1991)

Hard Core in the Big Apple (1991)

Santa Barbara

TV 101

First Love: Part 2 (1989)

ALF

Tonight, Tonight: Part 1 (1988)

Tonight, Tonight: Part 2 (1988)

My Two Dads

The Family in Question (1988)

Moonlighting

A Trip to the Moon (1987)

Mr. Belvedere

Separation (1987)

The New Mike Hammer

Lady Killer (1987)

Too Young to Die (1984)

Seven Dead Eyes (1984)

Mama's Family

Mama and Dr. Brothers (1986)

Saturday Night Live

Don Rickles/Billy Idol (1984)

CHiPs

The Spaceman Made Me Do It (1982)

Madame's Place

Episode #1.16 & 17 (1982)

Police Squad!

Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi) (1982)

Taxi

The Wedding of Latka and Simka (1982)

Hee Haw Honeys

Episode #1.24 (1979)

America 2-Night

Surfin' to Heaven (1978)

Happy Days

Spunkless Spunky (1978)

Good Old Days (1977)

The Jack Benny Program

Jack Appears on a Panel Show (1965)

And the show that started it all......

The $64,000 Question

Boxing (1955)

From 'Police Squad!':

JOYCE BROTHERSJohnny, I've been getting a lot of mail about the Cinderella complex.JOHNNY THE SNITCHSo?

[She pays him off.]JOHNNY THE SNITCHWomen's fear of success has left many of them confused about their wants and needs. Consequently, the stress-related burnout has driven many women from feminist aggression to female passivity, dependent upon their partners for vicarious fulfillment.JOYCE BROTHERSWell, what do I tell them?JOHNNY THE SNITCHTell them to get in touch with their unconscious feelings and to share the growth process with their partner.

Good night and may God bless......

* The Cineverse is not part of the Toobworld Dynamic as a whole. But certain movies have been absorbed into the TV Universe and this screen captcha is from one such movie - "Naked Gun 2½: The Smell Of Fear", which was spun off from the 'Police Squad!' series.....

No comments:

Just An Old Cowhand On The TiVo Grande

As the Trickster once said, "Reality is boring, that's why I change it whenever I can."
I'm just "The Man Who Viewed Too Much", and "Inner Toob" is a blog exploring and celebrating the 'reality' of an alternate universe in which everything that ever happened on TV actually takes place.
Most of my theories about the TV Universe come from thinking inside the box and thus can't be proven. But I've never been one to shy away from a tall tale.....
Remember: "The more you watch, the more you've seen!"